


My Sorrow's Share

by Elizabeth Culmer (edenfalling)



Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Choices, Family, Gen, Mortality, Prompt Fic, Self-Reflection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-29
Updated: 2015-09-29
Packaged: 2018-04-23 22:45:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4895149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edenfalling/pseuds/Elizabeth%20Culmer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arwen's view of her uncle's choice changed over time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Sorrow's Share

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Marycontrary](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marycontrary/gifts).



> This ficlet was written for [mmarycontrary](http://mmarycontrary.tumblr.com) in response to the prompt: _Arwen and the pro/con of choosing humanity. (I'm on a Silmarillion kick.)_
> 
> It's very short mostly because I am working only from slightly hazy memory. (Apparently I am too lazy to go look up details even though my copy of the _Silmarillion_ is sitting literally six feet away from me as I type this. *sigh*) Title is a line from 'On Another’s Sorrow' by William Blake, because I couldn't condense the Four Noble Truths into something both pithy and appropriate.

When Arwen was younger, she watched her father mourn his brother and could not understand her uncle's choice. She would never cause such pain to her family.

Now that she is older, she knows that grief and loss are inevitable. Even the promise of reunion in Valinor comes at the price of leaving all that is good and fair here in Middle-Earth. And to stay forever young, to persist unchanging until she has outlived descendants as far removed from her as Estel is from Elros? Would that bring anyone joy?

It would not, Arwen thinks, as she takes her husband's hand and joins her fate to his. Sorrow is inevitable, but she can choose its form, and she will not cause such pain to herself.


End file.
